Consequences
by J.S.Mallory
Summary: Sometimes a run can go perfectly according to plan and there will still be fallout.  After a clean run by Burn and his crew, he is reminded of the hazards of his line of work.
1. Chapter 1

Heinrich Morgan stood on the deck of his ship, the _Swift Wind,_ watching the waves roll past. They were some distance from land at this point and even though they only left Portland a day ago, the West Coast lay in the distance, just beyond sight. It wouldn't do for anyone to see his business. Piracy was frowned upon by most.

"Any luck figuring out what happened?" Henry asked his navigation tech.

"Fraid not, Captain," the dwarf said. "That ship no longer shows up on our sensors. Think she sank somehow?"

"That'd be the most likely explanation…but without a storm or other ships around, the next question becomes, 'Why did a lone ship suddenly sink'?"

"Sir!" the lookout ran up toward the bridge, waving his binoculars. "We might have a floater!"

Captain Morgan walked down onto the deck and took the binoculars away from his crewman to look in the indicated direction. A figure appeared to be floating on a piece of debris, coming from the direction of the former ship. "Bring us about. Let's see if they can provide any answers."

The _Swift Wind_ turned and its motor revved up as the vessel moved to where the figure lay in the water. As the ship pulled alongside the figure they saw a cybernetically augmented ork lying atop a partially submerged piece of deck board. His body was burned and had several gashes over his exposed skin. His cybernetic arm hung limply in the salt water, threatening to drag the ork to the bottom should his weight shift.

"Pull him aboard and tend to his injuries. I'd like to learn something from him before he dies."

"Sure thing, Captain."

Henry Morgan returned to his place on the bridge and pointed the ship in the direction the ork had drifted from. Perhaps there might yet be something of value adrift on the waves.


	2. Chapter 2

Three weeks earlier

"Can you guys hurry this up?" Magnus asked. "Hutchins will be coming back in a few minutes and I'd rather not be here when he does."

"Hey, you're the one who wanted this to be more elegant. This shit takes time to do properly," Burn said, not stopping the wiring of several small interconnected shaped charges. They had located a data-safe concealed in the wall of the office of John Hutchins and Burn aimed to destroy it the moment Eva finished fishing out the data they needed from it.

"There's no shortage of IC in this thing either. Distracting me isn't going to speed this up any," Ada said from Hutchins' chair.

Magnus rolled his eyes and returned his focus to the office door. "How's it looking out there, babe?"

Cabras, the team's Aztec Mage manifested briefly in front of Magnus. "No sign of Hutchins, though the next security patrol will be passing by shortly, so keep it quiet until you hear from me again."

Hutchins was an Evo executive who was overseeing some new software for a satellite project. They tried to hide the data in an obscure data management site, rather than an R&D division somewhere, but an insider sold that location to Ares. Burn and his crew were hired to get the software and destroy the originals.

"That should do it," Burn said subvocally. He stuck a timer into the detonation hub and set the timer for two minutes after he pressed the trigger. "Ready to pop it once we have everything we need."

The ork produced a cigarette and perched it between his lips when he saw Magnus looking at him with a scowl. "Seriously? At least wait until we get out of here."

Burn flipped the enormous troll the finger with his metal appendage before lighting the cigarette anyways. "I need my nicotine. You wouldn't like me if I didn't get a drag or two in me."

"I already don't like ya, what'd be the difference?" Magnus goaded before turning back toward the door.

"Would you two shut the hell up?" Ada said. Her flawless black skin had a few beads of sweat starting to appear on her forehead, as she dealt with security in the local system in the safe.

Burn mocked her by mimicking her silently, before settling down onto the desk and taking a deep inhale off his cigarette.

Cabras appeared in the room's center and addressed her teammates. "Something's up. Patrols are increasing and it looks like they are asking employees to return to their offices. Apparently, they've discovered our point of entry."

"We knew they might," Magnus said. "Still, the timing kind of sucks, considering we're not even heading out yet."

Ada stood up from the chair and wiped the sweat from her brow. "For all the security the guy had on that system, he's an idiot."

"How's that?" Burn asked.

"He had a document on his server to remind himself where he stored the backup."

"There's a backup? Hell, where do we have to go to get it?"

Ada walked over to the desk where Burn was perched and motioned for the ork to move. After Burn grudgingly gave up his place, she pulled open a drawer and reached up underneath. She pulled out an optical chip with a band of tape attached that had been secured to the underside of a drawer. "Now we have all the copies. Let's get out of here."

Ada passed the chip to Burn and readied her sidearm. Popping a hatch on his cyberarm, Burn stashed the chip in a hidden compartment before pulling his own weapon out.

"OK, start the timer and let's get out of here," Magnus said, tightly gripping his Ingram.

Burn pushed the glowing "Arm" button on his commlink's display and heard the timer beep before starting to count down from two minutes. "Let's move!"

"Coast is clear for now, but patrols are coming," Cabras reported. "My spirits are keeping their astral reinforcements tied up for now, but I can't hold them off indefinitely."

Magnus pulled the door to the office open and stepped into the hallway. After verifying the lack of guards, he ran down the hall toward the nearest exit. Ada followed close behind, allowing Burn to protect the rear.

The surprised squawks of corporate citizens filled the hall as Magnus rounded the first corner and saw the locals scurrying into the relative safety of their offices. Out of a doorway, a guard poked his head out of and drew his sidearm. The gunshot echoed loudly in the hallway and the massive troll leading the team grunted as the round struck his armor. Magnus brought up his sub-machinegun and squeezed the trigger. The gel rounds struck home on the guard's exposed skull and sent him to the ground unconscious.

As the runners drew closer to the exit, the hallways became more and more vacant, as the guards had cleared the way of the average citizen. The front door was guarded by a pair of heavily armed and armored guards. Magnus peered around the corner and sighed heavily.

"We need a way past those two. Any thoughts?"

"They'll gun us down long before we reach the doors, unless they're distracted," Ada said. Going to her commlink, she tapped into their PAN and called up Cabras. "Any chance you can help us out with a guard problem?"

"Negative. They have a couple of security mages that are being a regular pain in my ass at the moment."

"Anyone we can shoot for you?" Burn interjected.

"While I'd appreciate it, they're off-site. I'll help as soon as I can."

"By the time Cabras is done dealing with two mages and their spirit friends, every guard in this place will be here," Magnus said. "We need another way."

A nearby door opened up, as an executive woman stepped out of the restroom, muttering about interruptions to her schedule. She looked up and saw the trio of runners standing there and went wide-eyed upon realization of who she was looking at. Burn quickly raised his silenced pistol and snapped off a gel round shot to keep her from screaming.

"Jesus, Burn…she's just an exec," Magnus said.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize you wanted the shrew to start squawking and bring security to us faster…" Burn said with a heavy layer of sarcasm.

Ada ran over to the unconscious woman and lifted her ID badge, clipping it to her own clothing.

"You realize that she's white and you're not, right?" Burn asked. "Cause the photo ID ain't gonna help you."

"Would you just be quiet?" Ada said sharply. "It's the RFID tag in the badge I'm after, not the photo ID."

"What're you thinking?" Magnus asked.

"I'm hoping their guns have Smartlink with an integrated safety. I'll be marked as a friendly target and they won't be able to fire. I need you two to chase me."

"Chase you? Why?"

"I need big, bad runners to run away from and a couple of big manly guards to rescue me. I recommend you surrender in short order unless you want to find out what kind of ammo they're packing."

"You better be right about this, Ada," Burn said.

"I hope so too."

Pushing her breasts up higher to present more cleavage, she got into character before running around the corner in a panic.

"Help! They're right behind me!"

The guards raised their assault rifles and aimed at Ada before double checking their displays that denoted her as an employee. The guards moved forward and waved the gorgeous elven woman toward them.

"Get behind us, miss!"

Ada ran between the guards and huddled fearfully behind them. Burn and Magnus rounded the corner with guns drawn. They froze part way down upon seeing the guards.

"Get down on the ground and drop your weapons now!"

Burn and Magnus exchanged a glance before slowly dropping to their knees and placing their guns on the floor. Ada slowly reached down to one of the guard's belts and lifted the stun baton holstered there. She jammed it into one guard's back, sending him into a fit of spasms before falling to the floor.

"Wha-? You bitch!" The second guard wheeled around, momentarily forgetting about the runners. Burn snatched his pistol from the floor and fired a shot into the guard's skull, sending him to the ground in a heap.

"Excellent work, Ada," Magnus said. "Let's get out of here."


	3. Chapter 3

"I don't see what the big fuss is about."

"There are shadowrunners in the building, Mr. Hutchins. You will be far safer in your office than roaming the halls."

"I am not just 'roaming the halls', as you say, Corporal. I was on my way to an important teleconference when you pulled me away."

"Well, feel free to blame me when you get to your phone call a little late, sir. Your safety is of paramount importance to the management of this facility and my job is to see that you are unharmed."

John sighed. "Yeah yeah… just go kill the thieves so I can get back to work."

The sound of distant gunshots echoed through the halls and John froze briefly until he was told it was safe to proceed. The guard drew his weapon and watched for signs of incoming enemies. "Please, step inside, sir."

John went to grab his card key when he noticed that the door was open a crack. "Someone's been here."

The guard took stock of the door and noticed that the lock was scrambled. "Stay behind me, sir."

Keeping his gun raised, the guard pushed the door open and swept the room with his weapon following his gaze. He looked up for signs of entry by the ventilation system and stepped inside to peer behind the desk.

"All clear."

John stepped into the office and sniffed the air. "Does it smell like someone was smoking in here?"

A bright flash erupted from the wall as explosive charges went off, spraying pieces of the wall across the room. The guard threw himself behind the side of the desk to avoid the spray but John's eyes went wide was the flash subsided and was replaced by a cloud of black smoke.

"No! No no no…"

The manager ran over to the smoking hole that had been his data vault. The inside of the compartment had been reduced to shards of fused glass and melted boards. Frantically, John ran to his desk and threw open the drawers, clawing at the underside of the drawers for the backup he had stashed there. His fingers fell on the adhesive patches where the tape had been and the void between them where the chip had been.

"Dammit!" John knocked the phone from his desk and hurled his day timer into the far wall before hanging his head in defeat. His project was gone.

"Apparently, the runners were here to steal your material?"

"Over a year's work…" John said weakly. "I'll lose my job for sure."

"I will see how security is doing in detaining the runners. Perhaps it isn't too late…"

John said nothing as the guard took his leave. He knew there wasn't any hope in getting that data back. The runners weren't detected soon enough to properly coordinate an effort with such light security. The tone of his teleconference was now going to change drastically.

"Someone will pay for this…" John's eyes fell to the phone sprawled out on the floor. He quickly scooped it up, lowered the receiver into the cradle while pulling up a number on his personal commlink. After finding what he was after, he picked up his office line and dialed a number.

"Yes?" a masked voice said.

"This is Mr. Johnson," John said. "I'm looking for specialized workers to do some research and clean-up."

* * *

"That was some fine work, guys," Magnus said, as his pay was filtered through his series of bank accounts. "Zero body count and none of us were injured."

"The project was low-key enough we might not even need to lay low so long," Burn said. "What are your plans?"

"As usual, my ork associate, that is none of your business," Ada said with a smile. Despite her shrewd attitude, her good looks prevented more arguments with Burn than even Burn himself would admit. "Needless to say, I won't be in town."

"Cabras and I are heading down to Florida for some sunshine. Get away from all this gray sky," Magnus said.

"Remember when you told me that you wouldn't date other runners because it complicated business too much?" Burn asked.

Magnus rolled his eyes and nodded. "Yeah, I do. Never realized how good it is to have someone that can relate to our lifestyle, ya know?"

"I still haven't figured out how you two even… you know what, I'm not even going to go there. That's one thing I don't need stuck in my head."

"Just know that we do and it's good," Cabras said, putting her arm around Magnus.

Burn audibly sighed. "Thanks… needed that thought."

Magnus laughed. "So what are you going to spend your hard-earned pay on?"

The ork shrugged. "Need to get some more explosives, after using some of my supply today and some more smokes. Aside from that, probably going to kick back and relax. Do whatever comes to mind."

"How about you go out and get a life, aside from blowing stuff up?" Magnus said. "It's no wonder you're socially stunted…"

"Oi! Slot off, hamburger face," Burn spat. "I'm not that bad…"

Ada stifled a laugh only semi-successfully and Magnus shook his head. "Says the guy who just insulted a man twice his size. Seriously, work on your technique a bit while we're away, would ya?"

"Whatever…" Burn said as he fished in his jacket pocket for his cigarettes. "So how long you gonna be gone?"

"Dunno, a few weeks I guess. I've got some cred stored away that should allow for a nice trip," Magnus said. "I aim to enjoy myself, so don't call me unless it's real important."

"Yeah, yeah…go and enjoy your sunshine. Call me when you're ready for more work."


	4. Chapter 4

Burn's team had been on vacation for almost two weeks. Burn watched as the smoke from his half finished cigarette lazily curled up toward the ceiling of his crappy apartment. The trid was showing a football game that Burn really hadn't been watching as the announcers were commenting loudly about some play the Jets had made. He swallowed a heavy mouthful of Jack Daniels before picking up his smoke and taking a long, slow inhale.

His commlink on the table beside him chirped to life with an incoming call. It had been depressingly silent these past couple weeks and he figured that now that it was ringing, Magnus was back from Florida. When he checked the caller ID, it came up as his fixer instead.

Burn stabbed the connect button. "Yeah?"

"Hey Burn, how's life been?" Judge asked.

"Same as usual," Burn said. Taking another pull from the bottle of whiskey, he looked at the troll's face on the display. "You're interrupting my personal time. What can I help ya with?"

"As personable as always I see," Judge said with a chuckle. "Listen, I had a job come to my attention today that looks like it could benefit from your expertise."

"My crew's out of town. Why me?"

"Well the job is somewhat humanitarian in particular, which I know isn't your thing, but someone is sneaking Barrens kids out of Seattle and shipping them overseas for the Southeast Asian slave trade. Someone wants their ship sabotaged and the kids rescued. Sabotage is your specialty."

"By Barrens kids, you mean ork, right?"

Judge paused. "Mostly orks, yes."

Burn sighed. He put the cap on the bottle of Jack and picked up his cigarette again. "Can you pull together a few runners to get a new team together for a one-shot?"

"Sure thing. Any particulars?"

"Tech saavy…hacker and probably a rigger to manipulate the boat. Maybe some extra muscle, specialized in infiltration."

"Done. I take it you want the job?"

"Sure. I was bored anyways. When's the meet?"

"Tonight at 10PM at Club Helix. I'll set up your meet with your teammates prior to that, so you'll have met your new crew before meeting the Johnson."

"Fair enough. I'll be there."

Burn snuffed the last of his cigarette and went to begin preparations for the meet. He had to be sure his gear was ready right from the get-go. If the job was as time sensitive as it sounded, he wanted to be as prepared as possible.

* * *

Club Helix wasn't the hotspot it once was, but there was enough patronage to keep the club in the top ten lists for nightspots in Seattle. The ARO of the club whirled over the dance floor, showing a colorful helix of lights, where each subscribed visitor to the club had their public information accessible for others to peruse. One side of the Helix housed the men's profiles and the other housed the women. A heavy electronic pulse fired out from the speakers at nearly deafening volume. Burn could feel the force of the bass the moment he crossed the threshold and the dampers built into his ears cut out to reduce the overwhelming level of noise.

He waded his way through the gyrating throng of metahumanity that flooded the dance floor. Burn's face was etched in a scowl that made most people step out of his way as he moved through the crowd. He had a few drunk or high patrons still try to proposition him for a dance or a drink, but he pressed forward, completely disregarding them. This was biz and he didn't want to be distracted by an easy piece of ass.

He was near his booth when he saw an ork woman being harassed and detained by a drunken frat boy. "C'mon baby," the man slurred, "I'm sure we could have a great time."

"Let go of my arm before I snap your wrist," the woman spat.

"Oooh, feisty! I like that in my women…"

"I ain't your woman, ya sack of shit. Let me go!"

"Anything I can help with?" Burn asked.

The drunk man briefly looked up at Burn with fear, thinking that perhaps he was her boyfriend. "Nothing's the matter. Everything's peachy."

"Good. Now how about you let her go before she stays true to her promise to snap your wrist?"

The man looked at Burn and decided that if he didn't comply he could be in a world of hurt from either of the orks, or possibly both. Before fading away into the crowd, he glared at woman. "Frigid bitch."

"I don't need men in my life. I have machines that can do anything you can," she said to the retreating playboy. She spared Burn a short glance before heading away into the crowd.

"You're welcome," Burn muttered to himself before carrying on to his destination. He pulled away from the horde of people into the relative calm of the booths. Each table was enclosed in soundproofed, armored glass and featured a large circular table with ample seating at each. Ideal for meeting for jobs.

Burn arrived at his booth and saw three people seated there. One was an Asian human, heavily tattooed in Asian writing. He was wiry and muscular; his arms looking like they were lined with tightly wound cables. He was probably a martial artist or something, as he didn't look like much, but if you knew what to look for, he was dangerous enough.

The next guy over looked like little more than a kid. He had the build of a pre-teen; scrawny, short and a messy haircut. Like any poser might, his eyes were hidden behind sunglasses, despite the low-light conditions of the club.

The third was the woman who was being harassed on the dance floor. For an ork, she was slender and not strongly built. Her features were slightly muted, with smaller than usual tusks and looking relatively "Caucasian Human" from a distance. The commlink on her arm was obviously customized, so she was likely a tech-head of some kind. She looked up at him and muttered a curse under her breath as he approached.

"Hoi chummers," Burn said. "I'm Burn, the guy Judge set y'all up with."

The woman seemed surprised and relieved that he wasn't there to hit on her. "Thanks for the help out there. I really wanted to hurt that guy, but didn't want to draw attention to myself when I was here for work."

"Null persp," Burn said. "I appreciate your professionalism, now that I know the reasoning behind your actions. So, how's about we tell each other about ourselves so we know what we've got for skills?"

"You start, oh fearless leader," the kid said with a high pitched squeaky voice.

Burn's gaze lingered on the kid for a moment before starting. "Fair nuff, I s'pose. The name's Burn. I specialize in shooting and explosives, but I dabble as a wheelman in a pinch. I don't do negotiations or pleasantries. This is about as nice as I get. Who's next?"

The woman spoke up. "I'm Dakota. I'm a rigger, specializing in remote ops, although I can mix things up in person if I need to. I have a small army of vehicles at my disposal and can pilot most craft."

"The name's Red," said the kid. "I'm your hacker. If you need to get into a system, chances are I've either done it before or have hacked something similar. Not much for in-your-face combat. I'm kind of a back row runner and prefer not to go on-site.

"What're you, twelve?" Burn asked. "How many systems could you have possibly hacked?"

"For your information, I'm 21 years old," Red said. "You can thank Halley's Comet for my appearance. The comet went by and I stopped aging physically. Never hit puberty and never will. Makes getting a date hard, I tell ya."

"What's with the sunglasses?" Burn asked.

Red removed the glasses to reveal bright red, featureless eyes. "It hides Halley's other present. I did get some nice traits, but of course those aren't as visible as the downsides. We done?"

"Yep, that about covers it," Burn said unapologetically. "What's your story?"

The last member said, "They call me Whisper. I am an adept and I specialize in getting into places that I shouldn't. I am a melee expert, although I am skilled with a firearm as well."

"All right, good to know," Burn said. "I'll tell you what I know about the job and if you think it's not for you, then you can jet before the Johnson gets here. Basically, kids are being swiped from the Barrens, tossed on a boat and shipped off to Burma for the slave trade. We're to go out to the boat, pull any kids from the hold and sink the ship. Any takers?"

"Damn…sounds like my rep would take a hit if I turned it down," Red said, shaking his head. "I'm in."

"As am I," said Whisper.

"I'll get some transport that can haul a load. Any idea how many kids we're talking about?"

"Nope, but I'm sure the J can give us an estimate when he arrives."

A voice from behind Burn said, "We guess about six." Burn turned around to face a human in a pressed suit and a winning smile. He sized up those gathered at the table and offered his hand. "I'm Mr. Johnson. You must be Burn."

"Guilty as charged. How's about you take a seat and tell us what you've got in mind…"

Pulling up a chair, Mr. Johnson sat down and surveyed those gathered. "Our details are still a little sketchy, but it looks like a Triad or independent slave traders are offering solid cred for abducting street kids from the Barrens and shipping them to the Asian Southeast as slaves. Once they disappear into Burma, there's no finding them. These slavers are using a civilian craft, likely a large passenger vessel of some sort to avoid commercial inspections. We need you to find this ship, rescue any kids on board and destroy the vessel. There may be some follow-up work involved once you find out who's responsible. Interested?"

Burn looked around and saw no one giving indication that they wanted out. "We're interested. How much does this good deed pay? It's well and good to do the Robin Hood thing from time to time, but I still gotta make rent."

Mr. Johnson smirked and nodded. "Of course. We're willing to pay each of you five thousand nuyen for your efforts, with a bonus for any relevant information you unearth along the way."

Burn knew better than to negotiate. Whenever he tried to handle things diplomatically, someone usually ended up getting punched in the face. When no one else stepped forward to handle that aspect, he realized at that moment how much he respected Ada's gifts. Despite his position on negotiations, he couldn't help but wonder why some human in a suit was interested in street kids from the Barrens.

"So what's the score here?"

"I'm sorry?" Mr. Johnson asked. His face showed some hesitation beneath his smile, figuring that the job would garner no question.

"I'm all for rescuing the downtrodden and all that, but what's your angle. There's no way a corporate manager is interested in some street kids for humanitarian reasons. There's a bottom line involved here somewhere."

Mr. Johnson hesitated and surveyed the gathered runners. The four of them studied Mr. Johnson intently while they awaited his answer. Finally, he sighed and let his false smile lapse. "All right, there's a test demographic involved. We offered free health care to a neighbourhood just inside Redmond so we could field test a new inoculation against some of the more common diseases that have been getting more resistant to treatment. Some of the kids that were taken are test subjects. We need them back before the drug is detected."

"Is there any special considerations I need to take in when securing a way to transport this kids? Nothing communicable, for example?" Dakota asked.

"Nothing worse than the common cold," Mr. Johnson stated. "We're not treating Ebola here, this is a new generation of penicillin we're creating."

"What do you know of their operations?" Whisper asked.

"Little, unfortunately. They don't hit the same city repeatedly, but spread the abductions over the Pacific Rim. Makes it harder to track them. They're using a private craft and keep a pretty low profile. My connections in those circles are a little limited, I'm afraid."

They were operating semi-blind, but their contacts would likely turn up something. Barrens kids as guinea pigs… it wasn't the first time a company had done it. After a moment of consideration, he offered his hand to Mr. Johnson. As they completed the handshake, he nodded. "We're in."

"Excellent. Here is my commcode number. Call me once you've got the children and we'll arrange to have them returned to their families."

Mr. Johnson gave Burn a chip with the number and walked away. "Assuming you can find their families…" Burn muttered, as he turned to his new team. "OK, where do we start?"

"I'll track down some data on the slave trade in this city. Somebody knows something and has spilled the beans. I just have to find it," Red said.

"I'll focus on getting a vehicle than can carry us all, plus room for a dozen more," Dakota said. "Johnson's have a terrible tendency for understating and I don't want to be caught making multiple trips," Dakota said.

"Good plan," Burn said. "What about you, ninja-boy?"

Whisper didn't comment on Burn's attempt to get a rise out of him. "I'll do some ground reconnaissance at local marinas to watch for unusual activities around large ships. I also have some associates within the Triads. Hopefully, I can find one who's willing to spill the beans on the other."

"All right. I'll get started on building some charges to take down a boat. I'm guessing that to move half a dozen kids, plus have room for crew, we're looking at something ten to twenty meters long…maybe longer. I'll make my charges scalable and designed to take it down quick. Once we have enough information to move, we go. If we can keep them from heading out to sea, we can save ourselves a lot of hassle."

"Sounds like a solid plan of attack. How long do we risk on prep?" Dakota asked.

"Well, I think it'll take me the better part of two days to ready the charges properly. If we are ready to go at that point, I think we'll be in good shape. The more time we spend on prep, the more likely it will be that we will end up trying to track them at sea. Try not to distract me too much over the next two days. I need to focus when it comes to explosives. I'll contact you when I'm ready."

"Let's do this and reconvene at the waterfront in a couple days then," Whisper suggested.

Everyone nodded in agreement and left Club Helix in shifts in order to complete their respective tasks.


	5. Chapter 5

Days passed and lead after lead came up empty. Whisper's contacts within the Triads had never heard of a slave running operation out of the city, though all of them were quick to point them to the Black Chrysanthemums. While they didn't have a foothold in Seattle, their organlegging practices were well known within the city.

Red had been scouring the Matrix for any leads, but had yet to find anything concrete. He was now resorting to being fed by IV while delving into the grid and searching at all hours.

Dakota had secured a transport helicopter from a contact of hers, though she did urge her teammates that it was in her best interests that the helicopter is returned in one piece. With statements like that, Burn knew better than ask questions as to its owners.

The charges for taking down the ship were ready to go and had been for a day or so. With no leads thus far, Burn decided to take care of some personal business that he had been putting off.

The Swenson Adult Care Facility was nestled into the heart of Seattle, hiding amongst an ever-increasing skyline. The small, two-story building took care of orks and trolls who were unable to care for themselves. Burn had donated some of his money to the continued operation of the complex, but its age was still apparent. The size and strength of its residents certainly posed a problem to all but the most durable structures.

Burn milled around inside the tired yellow hallways as he waited for his chance to enter deeper into the building. Beyond the doors he could hear the bellowing of an elderly troll man, as he resisted the staff's attempt to give him his medication. Furniture flew as the old man resisted, flailing his arms in all directions. Burn had met the man before…his memory lasted only a few minutes and then you were a new person, even if you had been sitting beside him the whole time.

It took four orderlies to take the man down and tranquilize him. Burn shook his head. It would be terrible to live in permanent confusion like that. It was one of those thoughts that made him glad his life expectancy as a runner was so low. He would likely never reach old age.

"Interesting spot…"

Burn turned and saw Dakota walking up beside him. She was about to speak again when Burn grabbed her by the front of her shirt, spun her around and pinned her to the wall with an angry snarl on his face.

"Start talkin', boy, before I turn you into a resident," Dakota said with venom dripping from her voice.

"What the hell are you doing here? I turned off my commlink. How did you find me?" Burn asked in a harsh whisper.

"Red kept an eye on ya remotely. When your commlink went offline, he tapped into some local cameras to make sure someone didn't whack ya. We're snooping into someone's livelihood here and someone might take offense."

Burn relaxed slightly, knowing his team had his back, but the timing was inconvenient. "You shouldn't be here. This is my personal biz. If you could just wait outsi-"

"Derek!"

Burn's grip on Dakota went slack and he closed his eyes in defeat. Burn slowly turned to face the source of the voice. He smiled lightly and said, "Hey Corey. How've ya been?"

"I'm good. I'm getting better at that game you brought me. Can you have a game with me?" Corey had never learned how to properly enunciate around his pronounced lower jaw and his words were muddled, but Burn got the gist.

"Maybe another time, champ. I'm actually working today, but since I hadn't seen you in a while, I thought I'd stop by to visit. Maybe we can have a long visit another day, OK?"

Corey seemed disappointed but nodded. "Who's that?" he asked, pointing at Dakota.

Burn glanced back at Dakota. "She's a friend and coworker of mine."

"What's her name?"

"I'm Yuna," she said, offering a handshake. Corey all but folded in on himself and hid behind the orderly that was with him, playing shy in the presence of a new face.

"Is she your girlfriend?" Corey asked in a sing-song voice and a bashful grin.

"What? No no… nothing like that," Burn stammered. Dakota laughed at him, though she blushed herself at the implication.

"Corey, how about you go get the game set up and I'll meet you there in a little bit…" the orderly asked.

"Kay. Bye Derek," Corey said, offering Dakota a timid little wave before disappearing into the common area.

"How's he been, Ben?" Burn asked the orderly.

"He's making progress. His academic aptitude is still behind, but it is getting better. Motor control is perfect. Emotionally, he's still like a child though. I'm not sure that will ever change."

"I appreciate all the time you spend with him, Ben. I wish I could do it, but…"

"I know. Everyone has to make a living. You're better than most, Derek. Most drop off their loved ones here and never return. They just make the payments. You actually care for him."

"He's my brother. He's all I've got," Burn said, looking out into the common area. Corey happily went about setting up a kid's game on a nearby table and was dutifully trying to recruit more players. "How've the outbursts been?"

"He doesn't have them as much, but he still gets night terrors sometimes and he has to be restrained. Once he wakes up and calms down, he's back to his usual happy self."

Burn nodded. "Anything he needs?"

"He's practically memorized the last series of books you brought him and he plays that trideo game all the time. Some new books and activities would be great."

"All right, I'll bring something new next time. Sorry it was such a short visit."

"He's always happy to see you, even if only for a few minutes," Ben said. The orderly shook Burn's hand firmly. "See you soon, Derek."

Dakota waited until the two of them were alone in the hallway before speaking. "He's your brother?"

"Yeah. Our father beat him nearly to death when we were little. The doctors did what they could, but the mental damage was pretty bad. He's at about an eight year old level of intellect in an adult ork's body. The people here take good care of him, so I help take care of the facility."

Dakota slumped against the wall. "Now I understand. You didn't want me here so I wouldn't learn about Corey."

Burn nodded. "He's a piece of leverage against me. The fewer people who know about him, the better."

"Of course, the knowledge that you're not just a hardass that kills people might tarnish your rep too," Dakota joked.

"Yeah, I can't have people thinking I'm a softie…" Burn said, while rolling his eyes.

Dakota's commlink rang and she hit the connect button. "Hey Red, what's up?...Yeah, he's right here…OK…Great work. I'll let him know." Dakota disconnected and her face told him that she was back in business mode. "Red hit the jackpot. Found the boat on a remote Triad network the Chrysanthemums use."

"All right, let's get to the pier and blast it," Burn said quietly as he began moving toward the exit.

"No dice, I'm afraid," Dakota said. "According to Red's reconnaissance, they pushed out to sea last night. We're going to have to fly out there and board her at sea."

"Shit. Well, let's hustle. The longer we delay, the closer they get to delivering their payload."


	6. Chapter 6

The constant roar of the helicopter's rotors thrummed overhead as the Seattle skyline faded away behind them. Burn was sifting through his compartmentalized satchel, ensuring the detonators were separate from the charges until he was ready to set them. Whisper sat in silent meditation with his eyes closed. He was dressed in little more than a black body suit that seemed to be covered in seemingly random hidden pockets with all his equipment stored away.

Red sat in the copilot seat and was accessing AR, as he searched for the boat's signal. He sent out a ping every few seconds, seeing if they were making up ground on the craft. Dakota sat slumped over in the pilot's seat, as she was jacked into the aircraft, constantly making course corrections following what she had calculated as the best route for the target to have taken in order to reach Bangkok in the quickest time, with the fewest ports. Once they arrived in Thailand, their cargo would be gone, taken to Phnom Penh and lost to the jungles.

"We've got a hit!" Red said and he relayed the telemetry to Dakota. The Hughes Stallion lurched sideways as Dakota changed course to intercept the craft. Whisper leaned smoothly with the roll of the craft, but Burn practically fell from his seat, as he tried to stand to look out toward their quarry.

As they flew overhead, Burn looked down at the small yacht. It was an older craft, but still seaworthy. Still it looked small for what it was reportedly carrying. "You sure that's it?" Burn asked.

"According to the intel I found, she's inconspicuously small and her aft compartment's been modified to be like a coffin motel. Pack as many bodies into the hull as they can then set out."

"All right, well, time's a-wastin'. Confucius, you ready to go?"

By the time Burn looked back to Whisper, the man had stood up and harnessed himself to the helicopter, ready to lower down to the deck. "More ready than you, it would seem."

The ork scowled and retrieved his charges before clipping himself to the harness system. "Ready to go, Dakota."

The Stallion looped around and hovered over the aft deck of the yacht. "Be careful down there. She's out of position from where I figured she would be. Either her navigator isn't too bright, or they knew we were coming and tried to avoid us."

Burn brandished his pistol and chambered a round. "I know I'm ready for them. Let's do this."

Whisper leapt out of the side of the helicopter with Burn close behind. The two had a moment of freefall before they applied the brakes on their lines and came to a sliding stop a meter above the boat. Pulling the release, the two runners dropped to the deck.

Burn swept the area visually, keeping his gun raised. "Comms check. Can everyone hear me?"

"Loud and clear," Dakota responded. "Just let us know when you've got the boat secured."

"I hear ya," Whisper responded.

"Good. I'll take over the bridge. Whisper, you find our cargo, all right?"

Burn turned to look at Whisper only to find out he was already gone. "I'll take that as a yes."

Seeing no one on the deck, Burn made his way toward the cabin, which was up a flight of stairs from the main deck. "Any signs of life from up there?" Burn asked as he neared the stairs up to the bridge.

"Nothing. I'm not even getting any signals from commlinks," Red said. "Something's weird here."

Burn cautiously advanced up the stairs, keeping his pistol ready. He rose to the door of the enclosed bridge. He closed his hand on the door handle and tried to open it but it was locked. "Door's locked. I'm going in." Burn closed his cybernetic hand over the door handle and wrenched on it. Springs broke free and the wood cracked from the force as Burn put his shoulder to the door. As the door flew open, Burn raised his weapon.

The bridge was empty. The amenities were a little out of date, but the ship's computers were all online and guiding the ship on its way.

"It's empty," Burn relayed. "This thing's on autopilot."

"Not good. Burn, hook your commlink up to the navigator," Dakota said.

Burn crossed the carpeted space and pulled the retractable cable from his commlink and jammed it into the data port set into the bridge's console.

After a pause, Dakota said, "I think you'd better get out of there. This ship is set up on a dummy course. It's just a straight line across the Pacific."

"Isn't that the fastest way?"

"Not when you factor in that there are at least three major islands in the way, air and ocean currents, as well as needing to stop for fuel, food and water. This ship was never going to make it to Bangkok with these instructions."

"What the hell is going on? Whisper, you have any luck?"

* * *

Whisper had crept through the rooms under the main deck and something was definitely off. There were no sign of inhabitants; no mess, no food and no signs of recent activity. He had noticed a bulge in the floor of the ship that was buried under new carpet, so someone had definitely done some modifications to the original design. It was likely that the ship had been altered for smuggling, but the work was definitely second rate.

Making his way through the empty kitchenette, there was a short hallway that led past several crew bunks. The bunks were stripped of any sheets, showing only bare, tired mattresses.

"Whisper, you have any luck?" Burn asked over the comm.

"Nothing yet. There doesn't appear to be any crew on board. I've got a bad feeling about this," Whisper said, moving further astern.

"You too, huh? The navigational data's all shit. This thing's looking like a decoy. You guys have anything to report up there?"

"I've got nothing on radar and Red's digging for further leads. Isn't this boat a bit expensive to use as a decoy?"

"When you've got as much money as the Triads, perhaps it was more worthwhile for them to cut their losses once they learned we were onto them," Burn suggested.

"Hey, I wasn't traced. There's no way they knew we'd be coming," Red defended.

Coming to the end of the hallway, Whisper came across a locked door. Unlike the rest of the ship, the door was very new, using reinforced plastisteel and a pair of heavy bolted locks. "I may have something here," Whisper said. "A reinforced locked door. Very different from everything else on the ship."

"Well, maybe there was some truth to the rumours after all," Burn said. "Can you get in?"

"Give me a few minutes," Whisper said. Reaching into one of the many pockets on his custom suit, Whisper produced a set of lockpicks and went to work on the locks that secured the door. He pushed the tumbler pick into the hole and wiggled it around until he felt each pin fall away and he smiled as the first of the two locks fell open.

Repeating the process with the second lock, it was only slightly more complicated than the first lock, but as the second lock fell open, he said, "I'm in. I'm going to sweep the interior"

"Go for it. Hopefully, this hasn't been a total waste of time," Burn replied.

Whisper pulled out a Memory Blade and held it at the ready as he slowly turned the handle on the door. He quickly jerked it open and stepped into the darkened room beyond. As the door opened, Whisper heard the metal twang of a tripline severing. The room lit up with numerous digital readouts, activating with a five second countdown. The red hue from the detonators revealed that the room was full of barrels of explosive. A wire ran under the floor leading back the way he came. The bulge under the carpet had been a buried chain of charges, running along the keel of the boat.

As the timers counted down from five, Whisper leaned heavily on the doorframe in defeat.

* * *

"Bomb! Run!"

Burn ran out of the bridge, ready to go down to the deck. "Whisper, get out!"

"No ti-"

Burn was thrown up, through the roof of the bridge as the rear of the boat exploded outward. The explosion ran along the entire boats length, reducing the entire boat to a spray of fiery splinters in seconds. Burn was vaguely aware of commlink chatter but his ears had cut out, thanks to the damper built into his cybernetic replacements, reducing everything to a dim whisper.

There was a sense of weightlessness as Burn hurtled through the air. His clothes, skin and hair were burning thanks to his proximity to the blast. He thought about his past in that brief moment. He had lost his arm and hearing due to an industrial blast years before and now another explosion was going to take his life.

He was roughly roused from his revelry as he struck the ocean hard. He plunged into the frigid salt water with a heavy crack that doused the fire but seared his skin at the same time. The cold shocked him awake enough that he instantly began scrambling for the surface. He felt like he would never make it when he finally gasped the air again and surveyed the area.

The ocean was on fire all around him. His damper had still cut out as it tried to sort itself out from the blast. Disoriented, Burn swam over to a floating piece of deck board and draped himself over it. He stabbed the button on his commlink to set it to Active mode before passing out from exhaustion and falling prey to the ocean current.


End file.
